Thursday, March 21, 2013

By Jim Mullen, West Virginia Writer: U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) still doesn’t get it. He can’t fathom the reality that the freedom-loving Mountaineers of West Virginia are livid about his unwavering support of Barack Obama and his left-wing Democrats in their unconstitutional quest at further restricting the free exercise of Americans’ Second Amendment rights. Both are shamefully taking a tragic event and using it to further their political agendas by grandstanding and self-aggrandizing.

Manchin continues to reassure West Virginians that nobody is after their guns, while doggedly working with the anti-gun extremists to limit the size of clips and expand background checks. He and the Obamaites preach that we must have ‘reasonable’ rules.

The battle now is to ban so-called “assault weapons” and high-capacity clips. The radical left obviously believes lawful Americans cannot be trusted.

Weapons are only “assault weapons” when in the hands of criminals. When in the hands of law-abiding American citizens, they are “defensive weapons.” These are some of the weapons Manchin said we must look at to stop the killing of innocents. We all know what he meant by the term “look at.”

It is obvious to even the densest anti-gun zealot, that criminals will pay no heed to ANY gun-control law. Therefore, it’s apparent that the quest for more anti-gun legislation is aimed at disarming lawful citizens and does nothing to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. The facts are irrefutable; gun-control legislation disarms or makes criminals of lawful Americans, but does nothing to disarm criminals or reduce violence or murders of innocent people.

Criminals depend on government to disarm the public, thus allowing thugs and gangs unrestricted domination in our streets, neighborhoods, and cities. U.S. cities with the strictest gun laws have the highest crime and murder rates. Witness the cities of Chicago, Washington, DC, Detroit, Baltimore, and on, and on.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to ban 157 different models of defensive weapons, as well as magazines containing more than 10 rounds. However, the liberals and the media, including the Senator from the Mountain State, claim that nobody is trying to take away our guns. Every Democrat on the committee voted for the ban, while every Republican voted against the ban.

Americans must face facts, it’s apparent over the last several years that the New Democratic Party is a mortal enemy of gun owners and the Second Amendment. The NRA should also take heed when they endorse a Democrat for office when there is another candidate with an excellent record on gun rights. Endorsing candidates like Harry Reid and the Senator from West Virginia is shortsighted and the NRA actually undermines the very rights that they otherwise so feverishly defend because they add to the Democratic majority.

The West Virginia Senator supports backdoor registration of guns through background checks at gun shows and private sales or purchases.

Background checks at gun shows are little more than background checks for private sales and trading of guns and ammunition, which he favors. He knows none of these laws will reduce gun violence or murder rates in this country. Yet, under Manchin’s plan, if one wants to purchase a gun from a neighbor, one must pay for a background check and get approval from the federal government. These extended background checks are another back door, roundabout attempt at registration that allows government to know who owns guns, what type they are, and where to find them.

Not a word emanates from the mouths of Manchin, Obama, Feinstein, or any other left-wing anti-gunners about the real causes of crime and murder rates in this country. Most violence comes directly from inaction and misguided programs by federal, state, and local governments.

The free exercise of American rights under the Second Amendment does not cause violence.

Here are just a few of the shortcomings, incompetence, and corrupt bureaucracies of government that do result in lawless, senseless violence.
· The failure of the liberal courts and the justice system in general to PUNISH criminals.
· The failure to build more jails and prisons.
· Early release and catch-and-release of criminals; including violent felons.
· Plea-bargaining and reductions of sentences.
· Left-wing lawmakers, state and federal, who consistently and shamefully go out of their way to twist, manipulate, and distort, every societal issue to bestow the victimhood label on criminals, and not on the real victims; law-abiding citizens of our country.
· Failure to address criminal, illegal aliens pouring over our border with drugs, guns, and human cargo.
· Overcrowding, then release from jails of illegals to reduce the excess numbers.
· A corrupt government-controlled educational system that, especially in the inner cities, fails to give young people even a rudimentary education and then dumps them out on the streets without sufficient skills to compete in the world.

Much of the debate for years in this country has centered on handguns. For decades, nobody talked about long guns of any kind. To the leftists, handguns represented everything that was evil about the Second Amendment. The unvarnished truth is that the left-wingers believe the very existence of the Second Amendment is evil.

Concealed permits are under constant attack. By declaring gun-free zones and limiting where one can legally carry a weapon, the tyrants hope to make it so restrictive as to make concealed permits worthless. One such limit in declaring schools as "gun-free zones" to prevent shootings, could only be imagined, and implemented by the most naive and ignorant of liberal minds.

Some notable quotes by Obama, the anti self-defense chief, should tell everyone where the leftist-in-chief stands:
· “I am consistently on record and will continue to be on record as opposing concealed carry.”
· “I believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities.”
· “It’s a scandal that Bush didn’t renew the ‘assault weapon' ban.”
· If you need 19 rounds to shoot a deer, you probably shouldn’t be hunting.”

Here are some notable votes by Obama:
· Voted to uphold civil actions and lawsuits against gun manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and importers of guns and ammunition.
· Voted to ban hundreds of common rifles and shotguns.
· Voted to uphold local gun bans in Illinois.
· Voted to uphold prosecution of people using guns in self-defense.

Now, let’s examine some Joe Manchin quotes and excerpts from the Senator’s own writings:
· “I’ve never had more than three shells in a clip. Sometimes you don’t get more than one shot anyway at a deer. It’s common sense. It’s time to move beyond rhetoric. We need to sit down and have a common-sense discussion and move in a reasonable way.”
· “We must look at the use of high-capacity ammunition magazines and military-style assault weapons.”
· “I truly appreciate President Obama’s intentions to ‘push without delay’ a set of recommendations to address the kind of madness we witnessed in Newtown.”
· “I don’t know anyone in the hunting or sporting arena that goes out with an assault rifle. I don’t know anybody that needs 30 rounds in the clip to go hunting. I mean, these are things that need to be talked about.”
· “I think everything should be on the table.” “I think everything should be looked at.” In response to MSNBC’s question of do you think the gun laws should be changed?

One will notice Sen. Manchin never once points out that the Second Amendment never mentions hunting and not one word crosses his lips about self-defense. He obviously thinks the Second Amendment should be on the table for discussion, and it’s all about hunting.

It’s always easier for lazy, corrupt, and ideological politicians to take the easy path. They use manipulative hyperbole, and emotional rhetoric to push for legislation that has proven repeatedly to be ineffective, and destructive. Like vultures, these zealots circle after every despicable shooting by an outlaw or insane person and then use the tragedy and suffering of others to gain an upper hand to implement their anti-gun tyranny.

They know they cannot ban all gun rights at once any more than a boa can instantly kill and devour its prey. They do it slowing, one contraction at a time.

Little-by-little, Obama, Manchin, Feinstein, and their left-wing ilk formulate their “reasonable rules” which are, in reality, slow narrowings and constrictions designed to squeeze the life from our Second Amendment and devour our guns.

Knowing what Obama and this West Virginia liberal hunter have said publicly, and knowing the history of the anti-gun radicals, does anyone believe them when they say, “Nobody is coming after your guns?”

Disarming America is not a solution for violence; rather it is one of the chief determining factors for the violence raging through the streets of this country. An unarmed nation is a nation on its knees, and that is exactly where the leftist tyrants want Americans. The free exercise of American rights under the Second Amendment does not cause violence.

For one to see the tragic results of liberal politics and gun control that disarms lawful people, one needs to look to the cities in the control of the New Democratic Party. Here, guns are banned outright from lawful Americans or restricted to such a point as to make their right to own guns and defend themselves, a cruel joke. They are microcosms of what liberals want for the rest of the country.

When liberal-progressive government is in control of peoples’ lives, they keep citizens disarmed, uneducated, indoctrinated, and dependent. When will we cease to allow our government to cast their tyrannical, liberal, magic spell over this great land?
---------------
Jim Mullen
Parkersburg, WVFreedomforUSNow.comTwitter: @freedomforusnowParkersburg Conservative ExaminerTags:Anti-gun radicals, gun control, President Obama, anti-gun agenda, loss of libertyTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to Conservative Voices. Thanks!

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Ken Blackwell, ARRA News Service: Some politically correct colleges in America and Western Europe observe something they call “Israel Apartheid Week.” It’s another opportunity to libel Israel for building a defensive perimeter to keep out Arab suicide bombers. These misguided young people who libel the only democracy in the Mideast look to former President Jimmy Carter for their inspiration. Carter was the most prominent person in the world to apply the hated term apartheid to Israel’s purely defensive barrier. Carter’s book, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid, has served as a text for the libelers of Israel.

The French have an apt expression for what Israel is doing: “This animal is very vicious; when you attack it, it defends itself.” What Israel did in building a barrier between them and those territories that were staging areas for suicide bombers is entirely understandable. Americans are clamoring for more effective borders — north and south — and we have not yet, thank goodness, experienced suicide bombers in our pizza parlors.

There is no doubt that many Arabs in Palestine are suffering because of the barriers. They used to move freely in and out of jobs in the Jewish majority sections. Now, they must endure checkpoints. But whose fault is this? If they protest that they are not terrorists, our sympathy naturally goes with them. But if they try to finger the terrorists who dominate their towns, they will of course be attacked and in many cases killed. And their families punisned, as well.

Former President Jimmy Carter is working on his humility. It’s hard when you are so prominent. Speaking on NPR of his role as Mideast peacemaker, Carter said this:I doubt that any other prominent human being has been blessed with such a great opportunity, as I have, to actually know what's going on there.Now, Winston Churchill traveled throughout the region and created two Arab kingdoms as Britain’s Colonial Secretary, Iraq and Trans-Jordan. But he never won a Nobel Peace Prize, as Carter did. And Churchill’s contemporary, T.E. Lawrence, the famed “Lawrence of Arabia, just might be considered a prominent human being. He led the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire. Without his efforts there would probably be no Arab states.

It should be noted that Chaim Weitzman, founder of the Jewish State, David Ben Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, and Golda Meir, Israel’s longtime chief diplomat, might also have been considered prominent human beings. And they, too, might have actually known something about the Arab-Israeli Dispute.

Carter’s humility doesn’t extend to precision in writing. He boasts that he wrote every word of his book himself. And then had this to say about his choice of words:NPR:The sentence [in your book] said that Palestinians and Arabs in general should end suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism, when international laws and the ultimate goals of the roadmap are accepted by Israel?

Carter:The "when" was obviously a crazy and stupid word. My publishers have been informed about that and have changed the sentence in all future editions of the book.
He said it. You read it. It’s not just a slip of the tongue, or the fingertips. This “stupid and crazy” sentence went around the world and gave legitimacy to the idea that terror attacks on Israel would cease only when Israel agreed to yield up more territory to her enemies according to an internationally-agreed upon “roadmap” for peace.Has any other country ever allowed a “Quartet” of foreign powers to decide its fate? Actually, one did: Czechoslovakia in 1938 was not even invited to the Munich conference at which British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, France’s Premier Edouard Daladier, Italy’s Duce Benito Mussolini and Germany’s Fürer Adolf Hitler deprived Central Europe’s only democracy of its vitally needed border defenses. That infamous conference bought no peace and precious little time for the shamed democracies.

On too many U.S. campuses, liberal activists are inspired by Carter’s condemnation of Israel’s self-defense. They shout down Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, and promise to bring to the U.S. the kind of intimidation and libel the PLO has brought bring to all international forums. The late Yasser Arafat even wore a holster and pistol at the UN General Assembly in 1974. This was just months after he ordered the murder of U.S. Ambassador to Sudan, Cleo Noel.

With all this protection, he is safe to jet around the world, meeting such worthies as the leaders of Hamas — the openly terrorist faction that rules in Gaza. On one of these taxpayer-supported trips, Mr. Carter proudly related how he met with the late Syrian dictator:On one occasion [Hafez al-Assad] invited me to meet with him and his entire family, and I met all his children and got to know them. One of them was a college student who is now the president of Syria.Hafez al-Assad murdered some 20,000 Syrians at Hama in 1982. His son, the one Jimmy was so proud to meet, has topped his father. Bashar al-Assad has reportedly killed 60,000 of his Syrian people.

Jimmy Carter’s single term was distinguished by utter ineffectiveness. Americans in forty-four states booted him out unceremoniously. But even that electoral drubbing was not enough to humble his pride. Americans are generous. We thought Jimmy Carter was a good man, but just one over his head.

Now, we see increasingly that he can be mendacious and malicious, and seems determined to intrude himself where he never has to worry about the voters’ wrath again.
---------------------- Ken Blackwell is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. Blackwell is a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission and is a senior fellow at the Family Research Council. He is a contributing author to the ARRA News Service.Tags:IJimmy Carter, libel, Israel, Kim BlackwellTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to Conservative Voices. Thanks!

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Phil Kerpen - ARRA News Service: The White House continues to inch closer to a carbon tax. In Obama's first post-election press conference, he dodged the question. The next day his spokesman Jay Carney said: "We would never propose a carbon tax, and have no intention of proposing one." Great, but they don't have to propose it. The proposals have now been made by Obama's key allies. Senator Barbara Boxer, the chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee introduced a carbon tax bill with Vermont's Bernie Sanders, a self-described socialist. On the House side, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, Henry Waxman, has introduced a carbon tax discussion draft. This week Obama indicated he's quietly preparing to back these proposals.

"If we move aggressively on an issue like climate change -- that's not an easy issue for a lot of folks," Obama said to the first meeting of the operatives of Organizing for Action — his supposedly non-partisan continuation of his presidential campaign. "I want to make sure that a congressman, senator feels as if they've got the information and the grassroots network that's going to support them in that effort."

So the bills have been introduced and Obama is readying his grassroots army. This is looking increasingly real, and the economic stakes are enormous.

Let's start with the pain at the pump. The Boxer-Sanders bill taxes carbon dioxide at $20 per metric ton, which works out to 17.8 cents a gallon of gasoline. So it basically would double the existing federal gas tax. (Which of course begs the question — don't we already tax carbon enough?) It gets much worse; Boxer-Sanders automatically raises the tax 5.6 percent per year for 10 years, enough to double the tax to 30 cents. And the tax would also hit your electric bill, of course, and industrial energy users would be hit hard.

A study by the National Association of Manufacturers found that a carbon tax similar to Boxer-Sanders would knock an immediate half a percent off of GDP and threaten millions of jobs.

The Waxman discussion draft is potentially much worse. It proposes a range of starting prices and automatic increases up to $35 per metric ton and 8 percent. That would mean about 31 cents a gallon gas tax to start, automatically jumping to 67 cents by year 10 and $1.34 by year 20. Of course electricity generation, manufacturers, and every product grown, shipped, or manufactured would also be hit.

But perhaps the biggest danger is that despite the widespread economic damage, these proposals could become politically viable by incorporating large scale income redistribution. Even one supposedly conservative advocate of carbon taxes recently suggested 11 percent of the revenue should be used to increase social welfare spending to alleviate the impact of higher energy prices on the poor. We can safely assume the liberals will push for a much larger piece than that, perhaps issuing free gas cards much like existing food stamp cards so hardworking taxpayers can pick up the (fast-rising!) gas tab not just for themselves but for others, too.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

by Ralph Benko, ARRA News Service: The Denver Post, on February 15th, ran an Associated Press article entitled Homeland Security aims to buy 1.6b rounds of ammo, to far too little notice. It confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security has issued an open purchase order for 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition. As elsewhere reported, some of this purchase order is for rounds forbidden by international law for use in war plus a frightening amount specialized for snipers. Also reported elsewhere, at the height of the Iraq War the Army was expending fewer than 6 million rounds a month. 1.6 billion rounds, therefore, would be enough to sustain a hot war for 20+ years. In America.

Add to this perplexingly outré purchase of ammo, DHS now is showing off its acquisition of heavily armored personnel carriers, repatriated from the Iraqi and Afghani theaters of operation. As observed by “paramilblogger” Ken Jorgustin last September:“[T]he Department of Homeland Security is apparently taking delivery (apparently through the Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico VA, via the manufacturer – Navistar Defense LLC) of an undetermined number of the recently retrofitted 2,717 ‘Mine Resistant Protected’ MaxxPro MRAP vehicles for service on the streets of the United States.” …

“These MRAP’s ARE BEING SEEN ON U.S. STREETS all across America by verified observers with photos, videos, and descriptions.

“Regardless of the exact number of MRAP’s being delivered to DHS (and evidently some to POLICE via DHS, as has been observed), why would they need such over-the-top vehicles on U.S. streets to withstand IEDs, mine blasts, and 50 caliber hits to bullet-proof glass? In a war zone… yes, definitely. Let’s protect our men and women. On the streets of America… ?

… “They all have gun ports… Gun Ports? In the theater of war, yes. On the streets of America…? “Seriously, why would DHS need such a vehicle on our streets?”Why indeed? It is utterly inconceivable that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is planning a coup d’etat against President Obama, and the Congress, to install herself as Supreme Ruler of the United States of America. There, however, are real signs that the Department bureaucrats are running amok. About 20 years ago this columnist worked, for two years, in the U.S. Department of Energy’s general counsel’s office in its procurement and finance division. And is wise to the ways. The answer to “why would DHS need such a vehicle?” almost certainly is this: it’s a cool toy and these (reportedly) million dollar toys are being recycled, without much of a impact on the DHS budget. So… why not?

Why, indeed, should the federal government not be deploying armored personnel carriers and stockpiling enough ammo for a 20-year war in the homeland? Because it’s wrong in every way. President Obama has an opportunity, now, to live up to some of his rhetoric by helping the federal government set a noble example in a matter very close to his heart (and that of his Progressive base), one not inimical to the Bill of Rights: gun control. The federal government can (for a nice change) begin practicing what it preaches by controlling itself.

And … remember the … Sequester? The president is claiming its budget cuts will inconvenience travelers by squeezing essential services provided by the (opulently armed and stylishly uniformed) DHS. Quality ammunition is not cheap. (Of course, news reports that DHS is about to spend $50 million on new uniforms suggests a certain cavalier attitude toward government frugality.)

Spending money this way is beyond absurd well into perverse. According to the AP story a DHS spokesperson justifies this acquisition to “help the government get a low price for a big purchase.” Peggy Dixon, spokeswoman for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center: “The training center and others like it run by the Homeland Security Department use as many as 15 million rounds every year, mostly on shooting ranges and in training exercises.”

At 15 million rounds (which, in itself, is pretty extraordinary and sounds more like fun target-shooting-at-taxpayer-expense than a sensible training exercise) … that’s a stockpile that would last DHS over a century. To claim that it’s to “get a low price” for a ridiculously wasteful amount is an argument that could only fool a career civil servant.

Meanwhile, Senator Diane Feinstein, with the support of President Obama, is attempting to ban 100 capacity magazine clips. Doing a little apples-to-oranges comparison, here, 1.6 billion rounds is … 16 million times more objectionable.

Mr. Obama has a long history of disdain toward gun ownership. According to Prof. John Lott, in Debacle, a book he co-authored with iconic conservative strategist Grover Norquist,“When I was first introduced to Obama (when both worked at the University of Chicago Law School, where Lott was famous for his analysis of firearms possession), he said, ‘Oh, you’re the gun guy.’

“I responded: ‘Yes, I guess so.’

“’I don’t believe that people should own guns,’ Obama replied.

“I then replied that it might be fun to have lunch and talk about that statement some time.
“He simply grimaced and turned away. …

“Unlike other liberal academics who usually enjoyed discussing opposing ideas, Obama showed disdain.”Mr. Obama? Where’s the disdain now? Cancelling, or at minimum, drastically scaling back — by 90% or even 99%, the DHS order for ammo, and its receipt and deployment of armored personnel carriers, would be a “fourfer.”

The federal government would set an example of restraint in the matter of weaponry.

It would reduce the deficit without squeezing essential services.

It would do both in a way that was palatable to liberals and conservatives, slightly depolarizing America.

It would somewhat defuse, by the government making itself less armed-to-the-teeth, the anxiety of those who mistrust the benevolence of the federales.

If Obama doesn’t show any leadership on this matter it’s an opportunity for. Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, to summon Secretary Napolitano over for a little … national conversation. Madame Secretary? Buying 1.6 billion rounds of ammo and deploying armored personnel carriers runs contrary, in every way, to what “homeland security” really means. Discuss.
------------Ralph Benko is senior advisor, economics, to American Principles in Action’s Gold Standard 2012 Initiative, and a contributor to he ARRA News Service. The article which first appeared in Forbes was submitted for reprint by the author.Tags:1.6 Billion Rounds, Ammo, Homeland Security, Time For, A National Conversation, Why?, Ralph BenkoTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to Conservative Voices. Thanks!

The Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE) hosted a group of prominent figures from the African American community at 9:45A.M. on Friday, February 22nd at the National Press Club to speak out against gun control legislation currently being considered on Capitol Hill.

CURE is the largest black conservative think tank in the nation and is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

CURE organized the news conference in response to concerns shared by black conservatives that the Senate proposed laws will restrict their ability to defend themselves, their property and their families. They are also concerned that the proposed gun control legislation puts too much power in the hands of politicians.

"I believe that it is our duty to stand together and challenge the proposals currently on the table in the Senate, which invoke painful memories of Jim Crow laws and black codes," said CURE president and founder, Star Parker. "Black history is rife with government demands for background checks in order to qualify for constitutional rights. All Americans should be concerned."

Star Parker, a nationally syndicated columnist and other noted thought leaders, authors and speakers will make the case against the type of gun control measures President Obama and his liberal allies are proposing. While the group believes that Sandy Hook was a national tragedy, they oppose its use as an opportunity to advance government control and strip any American citizens of their constitutional rights. In the middle of Black History Month, CURE is calling for a serious national dialogue about the impact of gun control on the black community.

A bad man with a gun can only be stopped by a good man with a gun." ~ Rev Ken Hutcherson

Thursday, March 7, 2013

by Gary Bauer - ARRA News Service: I am becoming increasingly convinced that the worldview of many on the left is simply insane. There is no other word to describe it. I was reminded of this in the last couple of days by some recent events that have taken place in our schools. These incidents speak volumes about the bizarre set of values that direct leftist thinking. But I am most concerned about the effect it has on normal little American boys and girls.

From the city of Fountain, Colorado, comes news of liberal parents who believe their little boy is actually a little girl on the "inside." They are insisting that their six-year old son be allowed to attend classes dressed as a girl and that he be allowed to use the girls' bathroom.

Eagle Elementary School was initially willing to accommodate this young transvestite/ transgender. But in December the school changed its policy and informed the parents that their son could no longer use the girls' restrooms. Last week, with the help of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, the parents filed a discrimination complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Division.

Meanwhile in Maryland, a state dominated by the left, there has been another incident demonstrating just how dangerous food can be. On the morning of Friday, March 1st, a seven year-old boy in the D.C. suburbs of Anne Arundel County was eating a breakfast pastry. (Apparently Michelle Obama's food police were on vacation that day.) After taking a few bites, the boy noticed that his pastry looked like a gun, and he said, "Bang, bang."

In my world, this should have gone unnoticed as the normal imagination of a little boy. But in the left's world, the boy was suspended for two days. School officials were so shaken by the incident that they sent a letter home to every parent, warning them that food was used by a child for an inappropriate gesture and that child was removed from class. The letter went on to say that school counselors would be available to talk to any children who were troubled by the incident.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Was the pastry a "pop" tart?

On a more serious note, it is impossible to deny the cultural left's grip on our public education system: explicit sex education, American history that is all too often anti-American revisionism; introducing the radical homosexual agenda at the earliest ages; blocking Judeo-Christian values at the schoolhouse door; and gun-free zones that will never stop a killer.

Now hard-left political correctness has made a criminal out of a seven year-old playing with a pastry, while turning a six year-old cross-dresser into the latest civil rights hero.

If while watching the November election returns, you found yourself, like many of us, wondering what has happened to this country, you need to look no further than to the indoctrination that is happening daily in classrooms all across America.

Obama's War On Middle America
Last week we warned that President Obama seemed determined to make the sequester cuts as painful for the American people as possible in order to justify his tax and spend, big government agenda. Yesterday we got more proof.

An agricultural official in North Carolina recently asked his superiors in Washington for flexibility in managing the sequester cuts so that vital inspections would not be affected. Here is the response he got back:

"We have gone on record with a notification to Congress and whoever else that [your agency] would eliminate assistance to producers in 24 states in managing wildlife damage to the aquaculture industry, unless they provide funding to cover the costs. So it is our opinion that however you manage that reduction, you need to make sure you are not contradicting what we said the impact would be."In other words, there is flexibility to "manage that reduction," but because the administration has said it would be painful, you better make sure it is!

Meanwhile the White House has taken a look at where they can find some savings. Did they cut back parties? No. How about Barack and Michelle's separate vacations requiring twice as much taxpayer money or the largest White House staff in history? No. In the end, they decided to find savings by cancelling White House tours, for you, the American taxpayer.

Who goes on White House tours? By and large, it's working class folks from all over the country, many of whom save for years to take their kids on a once-in-a-lifetime visit to the nation's capital.

A big highlight of the trip is the chance to see the White House -- which represents America and all its greatness, where leaders such as Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan once lived. These are the folks Obama is punishing in yet another cynical attempt to turn the public against the GOP and its "cruel" budget cuts.

Rep. Louie Gohmert, a strong Texas conservative, introduced legislation to prohibit the use of federal tax dollars to pay for any trip Obama takes to play golf until the White House tours are reinstated. Obama's golf outing with Tiger Woods cost taxpayers nearly $1 million -- enough money to prevent the furloughs of hundreds of federal employees. I doubt Mr. Obama even thought about that.

But let me remind our readers that if the House passes Rep. Gohmert's bill, Obama's allies in the Senate will never allow it to get a vote, and the left-wing media will never report it. Once again, conservative Republicans are doing the right thing, but most Americans will never know.

This is yet another reminder of the importance of winning elections, including the critical contests coming up in 2014.

Benghazigate Continues
Yesterday the Senate Intelligence Committee voted 12-to-3 to approve the nomination of John Brennan to be director of the CIA. But the vote came with a price. The Obama Administration was forced to turn over documents related to the Benghazi attacks and the infamous talking points used by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice.

According to CBS News, references to Al Qaeda were stripped out of Ambassador Rice's talking points by a press officer either at the White House, the FBI or the Defense Intelligence Agency. Ambassador Rice refused to blame the attacks on jihadists, and insisted that they were the result of spontaneous demonstrations over an anti-Islam film.

But the idea that a press shop would make that kind of a major edit to a CIA memo is laughable. If it did so, it was very likely done only with permission from someone higher up the chain of command.

Moreover, the documents indicate that the administration had specific warnings of "an imminent attack" within days, and virtually all messages from Libyan officials to Washington blamed Al Qaeda or its affiliated cells for the attacks.

My friends, the handling of the Benghazi attacks is scandalous. But we should not lose sight of the bigger issue, which is that Obama's entire Middle East policy is an utter disaster -- for the people in the Middle East and for the United States and our allies.

Egypt is on the verge of economic collapse. The pro-democracy demonstrators in Cairo's Tahrir Square were betrayed. They traded the authoritarian Mubarak regime for the theocratic dictatorship of the radical Muslim Brotherhood.

Libya is an ungovernable state. It is now a distribution center for weapons and jihadists.

Iran is accelerating its nuclear weapons program.

Syria is in a chaotic civil war. Tens of thousands have been killed and one million people have fled the country. The future of the country looks bleak as the main forces battling for control are Shiite extremists and Sunni extremists.

The smaller Gulf states are all facing radical Islamic uprisings of varying degrees.

And insiders tell me that it is only a matter of time before the pro-Western king of Jordan is overthrown and another anti-Israel regime is installed.

So the president, whose middle name is Hussein, who assured us that he understood the Middle East far better than the "cowboy" Bush, who gave his first television interview as president to an Arabic language TV network, and who made his first major foreign policy speech in Cairo, has presided over a foreign policy disaster the extent of which has still yet to be fully revealed.

Liberals Mourn Brutal Dictator
Somebody had better break the news to Michael Moore -- Hugo Chavez is dead. Moore once claimed that Cuba had the best healthcare system in the world, and Chavez chose Cuba's "outstanding" healthcare system for his cancer treatments.

No sane person will miss Mr. Chavez. He was a brutal thug and a dictator. Sadly it appears his cronies will try to maintain their grip on power.

But what jumped out at me is that so many of our liberal media and political elites are mourning his passing. Larry king described Chavez as "fascinating" and "huggable." I doubt if many of his political prisoners in jail or those whose assets he stole would feel that way.

Jimmy Carter released a statement praising Chavez for his "vision to bring profound changes to his country." It went on to note that as Venezuelans mourn his death, they will "recall his positive legacies."

Actor Sean Penn said in a statement, "Today the people of the United States lost a friend it never knew it had. And poor people around the world lost a champion. I lost a friend I was blessed to have." Director Oliver Stone said, "I mourn a great hero to the majority of his people and those who struggle throughout the world for a place."

And what in the world was Representative Jose Serrano (D-NY) thinking when he tweeted, "Hugo Chavez was a leader that understood the needs of the poor. He was committed to empowering the powerless. R.I.P. Mr. President"?

This kind of mindless adulation reminds me of the praise that many world leaders heaped upon Hitler for rebuilding Germany's economy during the 1930s. Many leaders at the time thought his Nazism -- national socialism -- was the wave of the future.

Chavez was a thug who suspended constitutional liberties, shut down critical media outlets, had no understanding of economics and stole from his own people. It is estimated that Chavez and his family amassed a fortune well into the billions of dollars!

As the Miami Herald notes, his socialist policies destroyed the country economically. Venezuelans have suffered repeated currency devaluations. It is an energy-rich nation with frequent blackouts. And it has a murder rate today that is four times higher than the year before he assumed power.

It speaks volumes that Iran's oppressive regime has declared a day of national mourning in Chavez' memory. Sadly, many of America's left-wing elites will be joining in.
-------------Gary Bauer is is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families where his articles are also shared. Tags:liberal insanity, Brutal Dictator, Hugo Chavez, Benghazigate, Benghazi, Barack Obama, War On Middle America, Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working FamiliesTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to Conservative Voices. Thanks!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

by Don Seymour: After yet another government review found no reason to keep delaying the Keystone XL pipeline – a project that holds the promise of new jobs and more affordable energy for America’s middle-class families – the Obama administration said it’s “really looking for the public debate at this point” over whether to allow the pipeline to be built. Well, a new Fox News survey shows the public has spoken – and a bipartisan majority wants the Keystone pipeline built. Here’s the breakdown:

“By a wide 70-23 percent margin,” Americans support building the Keystone XL pipeline that’s been blocked and delayed by the Obama administration for four years.

A majority of Democrats (57 percent, “up from 50 percent a year ago”), Republicans (87 percent), and independents (66 percent) all back the Keystone project.

As the Wall Street Journal put it yesterday, “[T]he White House has run out of excuses to keep delaying approval” of the Keystone XL project. The pipeline not only allows Canadian oil to “flow south to America via the Keystone XL” instead of “west to China via other pipelines or rail.” It provides “space for about 250,000 barrels a day of oil produced in the U.S., which means a new and environmentally safer outlet for oil from the booming Bakken fields of North Dakota.”

According to the House Energy & Commerce Committee, analysis shows the Keystone project “will create over 20,000 direct jobs and 100,000 indirect jobs and carry nearly a million additional barrels per day of secure North American oil supplies to U.S. refineries.”

“After four years of needless delays,” Speaker Boehner says “it is time for President Obama to stand up for middle-class jobs and energy security and approve the Keystone pipeline.”
-------------Don Seymour is Digital Communications Director for House Speaker John Boehner and Tweets at @DonSeymourTags: Keystone XL, Jobs, Spending, Economy, Energy, Speaker John Boehner, Don SeymourTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to Conservative Voices. Thanks!

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Bill Smith, Editor: The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) has prepared a report on the impact of Barbara Boxer and Bernie Sanders' proposed carbon tax (scam) bill, which the White House is playing coy about, fueling suspicions that Obama may be preparing to back a carbon tax as political cover for approving the Keystone XL pipeline.

Hot Air's Jazz Shaw wrote on Saturday:"[T]here are apparently some bad ideas which never die, no matter how many stakes you drive through them. One of these is the carbon tax, not so subtly invoked during the State of the Union address, and now making a comeback with some of the usual list of suspects in Congress. But this time it may be coming with a twist. You want your Keystone XL pipeline and all of the jobs, opportunity and energy advantages it offers? Well show us the money."Other states as well as Arkansas had best watch out for the proposed con job about to be perpetrated on the people of America. However, Arkansas is one of the states predicted to be hit hardest if the carbon tax bill were to become law. The East and West coast liberals have little love for Arkansas even though it gave them Bill Clinton. NAM reports the following for Arkansas.If a carbon tax is levied, residents of Arkansas will pay more for natural gas, electricity, gasoline and other energy commodities, according to a study by NERA Economic Consulting and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). The increased costs of these critical fuels will impact every person and business in Arkansas. This is bad news for manufacturers, which consume one-third of our nation’s energy supply, and for families struggling to get by as the national unemployment rate hovers just under 8 percent. To make matters worse, many Arkansas companies that compete internationally will be placed at a disadvantage as their foreign competitors operate without similar costs.Here are some of the bad news statistics for Arkansas if the carbon tax is approved by Congress:

Natural gas cost to increase by over 40% in 2013; thus adding to household energy bills and increasing operation costs for many Arkansas businesses

Gasoline prices: Increase by over 20 cents per gallon in 2013

Household Utilities: Electricity rates to increase an average of 13% in 2013

The Hot Air article concluded with the following excellent argument which readers should consider passing on to their Republican members of Congress.The GOP has managed to get kicked around in the polls pretty badly lately on issues from gun control to the sequester. It might be time to shift the conversation a bit and get back the high ground by focusing on something where there’s a clear majority in favor of their positions. The pipeline and opposition to any form of national carbon tax could be a couple of good places to start.Tags:Democrats, Barbara Boxer, Bernie Sanders, Carbon Tax, impact on families and businesses, Arkansas, NAM, National Association of ManufacturersTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to Conservative Voices. Thanks!